For Landlords, a Time of Plenty

America’s rental landlords have plenty to be thankful for this year: Nearly half of property owners report vacancy rates lower than a year ago, showing the sector’s continued strength as more Americans rent apartments instead of purchase homes.

This is allowing landlords to raise rents: The median predicted rent increase over the next 12 months is 3%, according to a Rent.com survey.

Given the robust market, the national vacancy rate is 5.6%, the lowest rate since 2006, and only 15% of property managers say they’re willing to shave monthly rents to fill the few vacant units they have. That’s down from 37% in 2010 and a whopping 69% in 2009, when landlords were coughing up free rent and other goodies to lure tenants after the financial market crashed.

Most property owners say few freebies are available: 42% of respondents boast they don’t need to compromise to fill vacancies, up 20 percentage points from a year earlier. Still, 20% of property managers are reducing deposit amounts, down from 44% last year, Rent.com reports.

About half of property owners say job loss is affecting their tenants, compared with a stunning 90% back in the dark days of 2009. Nearly a quarter of respondents say doubling-up or taking on roomies is driving vacancies, well below last year’s 48%, according to the survey.

Rent.com conducted the survey among its customers, representing 29,000 communities and more than 5 million rental units.

Corrections & Amplifications: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said that Rent.com’s customers represent more than 5,000 rental units. They cover more than 5 million units.